Within the manufacturing industry, laser-cutting machines are used to cut work pieces from sheet metal. Specifically, a sheet of metal, for instance having a four foot width, eight foot length, and a quarter inch thickness, may slide into a laser-cutting machine that cuts a hundred work pieces out of the sheet metal. After removal from the sheet of metal, the work pieces would then be used for manufacturing one or more objects. The work pieces then need to be delivered to the next location in the manufacturing assembly.
The machine may cut the work pieces over a basin or chute to deliver the work pieces to another location, although incorporating a chute within a laser-cutting machine presents its own challenges. The machine may output the cut sheet to a location where an individual or parts sorting robot removes the work pieces from the sheet for delivery to the next location on the assembly line, although the laser-cutting machine then cannot output another sheet until work pieces are removed and the cut sheet is removed, slowing work output—particularly when many work pieces are cut from an individual sheet.
Another possibility is cutting approximately 99% of each work piece such that each of the work pieces remains only slightly connected to the sheet. FIG. 1 is an illustration of a front view of a sheet of metal 10 laser cut with the work pieces 12 slightly connected to the sheet 10, in accordance with the prior art. The work piece 12 is separated from the sheet metal 10 by a laser cut 14, except at connection points 16 where the work piece remains tethered to the sheet metal. Depending on the design, there may be one or two, or more connection points 16. The sheet 10 with the work pieces 12 attached may be taken immediately from the laser-cutting machine to another location where the work pieces 12 are individually removed from the sheet 10. For example, an individual may manipulate the work piece 12 by bending the work piece 12 back and forth until the remaining connection 16 to the sheet 10 is severed. The manipulation may include pushing or twisting the work piece 12 relative to the sheet 10. This individual manipulation might require less than a minute for an individual work piece 12, but could take an hour for the sheet 10 if a hundred or more work pieces 12 are present on the sheet.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.